The Sunday of the Passion: Palm Sunday

Join us this Sunday at 8am and 10:30am as we begin Holy Week with our celebration of Palm Sunday. The 10:30am liturgy will begin in front of Trinity Commons with the Blessing of Palms and Solemn Procession. Those who wish to forgo the procession are most welcome to remain in the church. 

What is Palm Sunday and Holy Week?
Palm Sunday commemorates Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem, but its central focus is the Passion and death of Christ. The three days that follow take up the events immediately preceding Jesus' arrest and crucifixion. Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter are days when, unless absolutely impossible, Christians will be in church.

The Maundy Thursday liturgy has two distinctive features, namely, the foot washing, in imitation of Jesus' own action at the Last Supper, and, after the principle liturgy, a prayer vigil that recalls Jesus' prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane the night he is betrayed and arrested.

The heart of the Good Friday liturgy is the solemn proclamation of the Passion narrative with a long and encompassing act of intercession and the Venerations of the Cross as the sign of Christ's self-giving and our salvation. The Eucharist, our sacrifice of thanksgiving, is not celebrated on the day focused on Jesus' sacrifice of himself, and so Communion is given from the Sacrament consecrated at the Maundy Thursday Mass. 

The Great Vigil is the heart of the year; its celebration of Holy Baptism or the Renewal of Baptismal Vows and the First Mass of Easter are at once the beginning and the summation of all Christian prayer and worship.

(The above is adapted from the Saint Augustine's Prayer Book, Forward Movement, 2014)